


an orchard of forgiveness

by gointorosedale



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-31 07:10:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gointorosedale/pseuds/gointorosedale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night, deep in the woods, a wolf meets a woman. </p>
<p>They talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	an orchard of forgiveness

The forest is dark and damp and the rush of leaves flying past Red as she runs is the single most soothing sound she's ever heard, heart pounding and blood rushing, exhilarating and free. Her thoughts are a jumble of wolfish instinct and human joy, the wide open space and infinite dark a drugging thing to a wolf.

She's running and running and running, heart pounding in time with her feet on the wet forest floor and everything is perfect and free, when the scent of human suddenly slams into her. There are no humans in these woods, not at this time of night, not with the wolf around. They know better than to take their chances with the wolf-girl, and at any other time it would bother Red but now she just feels powerful and proud.

She chases after the scent, quick and silent, not so much as a twig cracking under her feet as she scents out her human.

After a few moments, Red comes to a halt at an open clearing. The moon shines down on it beautifully, like sunlight but gentler, soft and rounded, and Red is momentarily distracted by the sheer beauty of a simple moonlit night. Then she sees the human, and tilts her head. She's sitting there, on the floor, skirts spread out around her, eyes closed.

Red moves closer carefully, but the human seems to feel the shift in the air because her eyes snap open, and then she's face-to-face with a wolf and Red is frozen by the sight of the moonlight reflecting in sky-blue eyes. The human's mouth falls open in shock, and Red is surprised to find herself backing up instinctively, wanting her to feel safe.

The human – a woman, Red knows, in the back of her head – closes her mouth after a beat and seems to consider what to do. Red wants to move closer, but she doesn't want to scare the woman.

She whines softly, a forlorn little sound, and nudges her muzzle in the direction of the woman. She looks at Red, head tilted to he side, brows furrowed. “Are you – ?” she asks, trailing off.

Red recognizes the words even as the wolf delights in the sound of her voice, low and quiet like dark winter nights heavy with the promise of snow, and she whines again.

“You're intelligent, aren't you?” She rises up into a crouch, curls falling over her shoulders. “Can I come closer?”

Red answers by padding forward softly, cautiously, and a smile breaks across the woman's face like dawn.

When Red is standing only a small distance from the woman, she pauses, bringing herself up to her full height. She's strangely aware of her wolf body, human consciousness wishing for a human tongue to speak human words.

“I didn't think you were real,” the woman says, awed and breathless. “Can I touch you?” she asks, and when Red answers by pushing her face into the woman's arm, she runs her small hands through her fur.

Red stretches a little at the feeling, the fingers dragging against her scalp. She's always surprised by how right it feels, her wolf-skin, her snout and sharp claws. She expects it to feel wrong, like wearing a stranger's skin, and instead it's like slipping on an old, well-worn dress, familiar and safe.

“My name is Belle,” the woman says, rubbing one of Red's fine ears between thumb and forefinger. Red twitches it away, but pushes her muzzle back at Belle so she resumes her petting. _Belle_ , Red thinks, _what are you doing in my woods in the middle of the night?_ and for just a moment Red wishes she was human.

Red has spent many years wishing her wolf away. For the longest time it was natural as breathing to look up at the night sky and see the moon and feel nothing but fear and anger and self-hatred – the rush of disappointment every month at Wolfstime when she could feel her bones twitch and buzz with the urge to rearrange themselves into something monstrous.

Nowadays it isn't so bad, and Red revels in the freedom it gives her, the experience of tearing into a fresh meaty rabbit or chasing after the moon, knowing full well she'll never get there but enjoying it all the same. There's a beauty to it, the simplicity of being a wolf. The wolf doesn't need many complicated things: the wolf wants freedom and wet earth under its feet, and the rush of adrenaline and sometimes tasty little foxes or birds or shelter. The wolf doesn't shock awake to the memory of human flesh between its teeth, and the wolf doesn't remember the home it left tied to a pole to devour.

The wolf isn't the monster, Red thinks sometimes.

“You're beautiful, aren't you?” Belle says, curling herself carefully around Red's shoulders. Red feels her curls spill onto her face, tickling against her nose.

When the words register, she freezes up in shock. It's not something she'd ever expected to hear about the wolf. She's still getting comfortable with cohabiting with the wolf – sharing her headspace with the creature that killed Peter and ate its way through entire armies – and the fact that this strange woman has called her beautiful makes pride rush through her stomach, warm and soft.

She straightens herself out, puffing up, and Belle giggles. “Yes,” she says with a smile, “Very beautiful.”

Thank you, Red thinks, wishing for a human tongue for even just a second, just to tell her how much it means to hear that. For lack of a better method, Red licks Belle's hand.

Belle laughs again – a short sharp bark that sounds like happiness and heartbreak at the same time.

“I know I should be afraid of you,” she says suddenly, running her hands through Red's fur. “I met this man, you know. He – he wasn't human, and that isn't a bad thing, but he couldn't believe that.” The heartbreak has taken over in her voice now and Red whines low in her throat, a sympathetic little noise.

“It's okay, though. I just wish he knew, he didn't have to be human to be worthy of – of anything, of life, I guess.” Belle looks at her, suddenly intense, and Red can almost see her willing the understanding into the wolf. “You know that, right?” she asks, almost desperate. “You understand that you can have magic running through you blood and still be worthy?”

It's not a question, it's an order, but Red nods anyway. She isn't so sure, but she can feel the sudden desperation in the air, and Belle deflates with relief.

“I don't know why I always want to prove to everyone that they're better than they think they are,” Belle says, and her voice is slow and hushed and hurting. “The curse of the optimist, I suppose. I made my papa so angry with it, when I was little. Always brought home feral strays that no one wanted.” She smiles a little at that, and for a moment Red is entranced by the glint of her teeth in the moonlight.

She butts her head against Belle, trying to soothe what she can in this human who isn't afraid of her, this human who looks at monsters and sees only possibility. Red likes that.

“I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing out here?” Belle asks, still dragging a hand through Red's fur.

Red tilts her head, prompting the woman to continue.

“I don't really have a place to go, I guess. The man I mentioned, I lived with him for a while but he threw me out. I suppose I could get back to my father, but I don't really want to go back to that life. Sitting around in my tower, waiting for someone to take me away. I spent all my life dreaming about traveling and now I can and I don't know where to go.” She huffs out a watery laugh at the end of her sentence, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

Red buts her head against Belle's shoulders and licks her cheekbone, the only comforting gesture she can think of without hands to hold her. Belle sighs, looking down at her with a soft smile.

“At least I have you for company, now.”

Red licks her hand again when it reaches out to pet her, and though Belle won't understand, it's a promise to return.


End file.
